Andrew Leigh

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
6PR 882 AM WITH KARALEE KATSAMBANIS
WEDNESDAY, 12 APRIL 2023

SUBJECTS: SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES, COST OF LVING, COMPETITION LAWS, ECONOMIC OUTLOOK, MULTINATIONAL TAX AVOIDANCE

KARALEE KATSAMBANIS: I am delighted to welcome my next guest – Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, the Honourable Dr Andrew Leigh. Good evening.

ANDREW LEIGH: Good evening, Karalee. Great to be with you and your listeners.

KARALEE KATSAMBANIS: It is lovely to have you on board. Now, look, Dr Leigh, the reason why I’ve got you on this evening is you’ve recently been calling for business to get a fair go and fair competition. You recently spoke at the COSBOA National Small Business Summit, and you’ve called for the shifted narrative on, you know, unfair contract terms and trading practices in a bid to spark what we could call market stimulation and greater productivity. How is this going to have a good impact, especially here in Western Australia?

ANDREW LEIGH: Well, Karalee, any sports fan knows that fair competition is really fundamental to the game. You don’t get a good football game unless you’ve got a fair set of rules. One of the things we’ve been worried about recently as a federal government is that the economy isn’t dynamic enough because there’s not enough fair competition taking place.

There’s too many sectors where there’s just one or two big firms completely dominating things. And the small guy just doesn’t get a look in. What we want to do is ensure that there’s more start-ups and that there’s more market dynamism, more people switching jobs to get those useful pay rises and more productivity growth, which ultimately is the foundation for living standards.

Unfair Practices Hurt Consumers, Businesses, Profits

The Daily Telegraph, 11 April 2023

In the economy, just as in sport, there are winners and losers. Sometimes you just play better on the day. But the rules of sport are set up to ensure fair play, and that's how the economy should function too.

When the Albanese government came to office, unfair contract terms were legal. That meant multinationals could put terms in their contracts that provided for automatic renewal, excessive exit fees and unilateral price increases.

Unfair contract terms let multinationals exploit the power balance between them and local businesses. We changed that last year by banning unfair contract terms.

Now we're turning our attention to unfair trading practices. For example, unsubscribing from a digital streaming service often involves confusing menus, skewed wording and urges to stay a bit longer.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC 1206 AM WITH BRIAN CARLTON
THURSDAY, 6 APRIL 2023

SUBJECTS: MULTINATIONAL TAX AVOIDANCE CRACKDOWN; NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS SUMMIT; INLAND RAIL FIASCO; ACT UNEMPLOYMENT; ENERGY BILL RELIEF.

BRIAN CARLTON (HOST): The thing we're about to talk about is a position, Government position that came out of the last budget, and it's one of those ones that probably didn't get a lot of attention at the time, but it's a worthy issue. The issue is the large corporates, largely multinational corporates, who offset a bunch of their accounts to what you might call low‑tax jurisdictions, and they're claiming a whole bunch of things called "intangibles", and we'll find out what they are in a minute, intangibles, to reduce their overall tax bill here.

Now, the Federal Government to its credit is having a bit of a crackdown on this and has produced some draft legislation that they want some feedback on. To have a bit of a chat about exactly what that legislation contains, let me bring in here, if I can, Andrew Leigh, who is the Federal Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury. Minister, good afternoon, how are you? 

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY ANDREW LEIGH: Good afternoon, Brian. Great to be with you and your listeners.

CARLTON: I appreciate your time today. This is one that probably didn't get a lot of attention on budget day or in the reviews of budget, so to speak. The issue is largely as I've described, isn't it, they're sort of shifting their business operations around so that they can claim a whole bunch of deductions here in Australia based on activities overseas, in a nutshell? 

Fair Play, Fair Competition and Economic Dynamism
COSBOA’S National Small Business Summit, Melbourne
Wednesday, 5 April 2023

Introduction

I acknowledge the people of the Kulin Nations, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we gather today.

I pay my respects to their Elders, extend that respect to other First Nations people present today, and commit myself, as a member of the Albanese Government, to the implementation in full of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

I would also like to acknowledge COSBOA for inviting me to speak today.

I also recognise the work of today’s panellists: Bruce Billson, Stuart Clues, Will Day, Dominique Lamb and Mick Keogh.

Before we begin the panel discussion, ‘Thriving in a competitive economy’, we need to talk about printers.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
PRESS CONFERENCE
PARLIAMENT HOUSE
MONDAY, 3 APRIL 2023

SUBJECTS: MULTINATIONAL TAX AVOIDANCE;  PETROLEUM RESOURCE RENT TAX; OECD TWO-PILLAR SOLUTION; PASSING OF YUNUPINGU

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY ANDREW LEIGH: Thanks everyone for coming along today. My name is Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Competition and Charities and Treasury. I'll make a few remarks and I'll hand over to the OECDs Deputy Director of Tax David Bradbury.

I want to begin by acknowledging today the passing of Yunupingu, one of the most extraordinary Indigenous leaders in this country. As a Yolngu elder he was instrumental in crafting the Yirrkala Bark petitions and somebody whose influence has ranged across the nation. It is a reminder of the power of work that came to form the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which the government strongly hopes will translate into a successful vote at the referendum later this year for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

This morning, we've held a very successful roundtable on multinational taxation, with a range of entities representing corporate Australia, the union movement and the community sector. We've done this because we understand that multinational tax avoidance is a first order issue for many Australians.

Matter of Public Importance Debate
House of Representatives, 30 March 2023

A year ago, the coalition lost nine seats in South Australia and lost government. Ten months ago, they lost 17 seats federally and lost government. Last weekend, they lost at least a dozen seats in New South Wales and lost government. The coalition now holds no mainland state or territory. The most senior Liberal governing leaders in Australia today are Brisbane Mayor Adrian Schrinner and Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff.

You'd think that the loss of 40 seats and three elections would provoke some soul-searching, but the main lesson that the coalition seems to be taking from this is that they're too woke and they need to move to the right. The fact is that the coalition hasn't woken up. The Australian people aren't buying what you're selling. This is no better epitomised than by the shadow Treasurer, a man who brought us the current energy crisis—a man who is best known for hiding energy price increases from the Australian people, for his Cayman Islands company, for the Jam Land scandal and for making things up about Clover Moore and Naomi Wolf. As he might have put it, 'Well done, Angus.' He thinks he's the second coming of the Messiah, but most Australians think he's more like Mr Burns from The Simpsons—just with a slightly greater tendency to look straight down the barrel of the camera.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS NEWSDAY WITH TOM CONNELL
WEDNESDAY, 29 MARCH 2023

SUBJECTS: INTEREST RATES, INFLATION, HOUSING AUSTRALIA FUTURE FUND, DGR STATUS FOR ORGANISATIONS CAMPAIGNING ON THE REFERENDUM FOR AN INDIGENOUS VOICE TO PARLIAMENT REFERENDUM

TOM CONNELL (HOST): We have had retail spending figures out this week that show Australians are spending only the same amount they were spending in September last year. In other words, spending’s been flatlining since then. So, have Australians heeded the warnings or perhaps unable to spend anymore? Is this the end of rate rises? Joining me live now, Andrew Leigh, Competition, Charity and Treasury Assistant Minister. Thanks for your time.

ANDREW LEIGH: Always a pleasure, Tom.

CONNELL: We’ll know the figures soon enough. I kind of just want to fast‑forward 12 minutes and have it, but retail spending we know; does it feel like the rates have basically done their work? Do you think Australians can look forward to no more rate rises maybe even from here on in?

LEIGH: We certainly hope that the worst of inflation is behind us, Tom. But it does speak to the independence of the Australian Bureau of Statistics that I’m their responsible Minister but I get no heads‑up on the figure.

Social Enterprise Round Table
Parliament House, Canberra
Monday, 27 March 2023

Thanks Jess [Moore] and Tara [Anderson] for the introduction. It’s delightful to have so many generous altruists here in Parliament today. I acknowledge that we're meeting on the lands of the Ngunnawal people, and pay my respects to their elders, past, present and emerging. I also acknowledge parliamentary colleagues Daniel Mulino, Andrew Giles and Helen Haines.

What you do has support from across the parliament. For those on the business side, you're celebrating businesses. And for those who got into politics to help the most disadvantaged, you're doing just that. The work of social enterprises spans the Australian economy, I only need to walk a few steps from my electorate office in Gungahlin to see Krofne Donuts, which was set up to provide employment for people with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities .

Here in Canberra, Alicia Payne, David Smith and I recently visited mattress recycler Soft Landing with Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, learning about the environmental work they do, but also about the work that they provide for people who are formerly jobless. You’ll hear from the extraordinary Bec Scott shortly, somebody who Nick Terrell and I wrote about in Reconnected because we were inspired not just about what she does at Streat, but how she looks to seed new social enterprises, right across the community.

 AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION TRIBUNAL APPOINTMENTS

Today the Albanese Government is pleased to announce seven important appointments to the Australian Competition Tribunal (the Tribunal).

• Justice Michael O’Bryan has been appointed as the part-time President of the Tribunal for a five-year period;
• Justices Sarah Derrington AM, Kylie Downes, John Halley and Mark Moshinsky have been appointed as part-time Deputy Presidents of the Tribunal, each for a five-year period;
• Daniel Andrews and Ray Steinwall have been appointed as part-time members of the Tribunal, each for a five-year period.

Justice O’Bryan was appointed to the Federal Court in 2019, and then appointed as a Deputy President of the Tribunal in the same year. In 2014, Justice O’Bryan was appointed as a member of the panel that conducted Australia’s last major competition law and policy review, the Harper Review, in 2015.

House of Representatives
23 March 2023
Ministers Of State Amendment Bill 2022

This Ministers of State Amendment Bill 2022 seeks to implement the first recommendation of the Report of the Inquiry into the Appointment of the Former Prime Minister to Administer Multiple Departments by Virginia Bell AC. That first recommendation requires the publication in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette of appointments to administer departments, directions to a minister of state to hold an office, the swearing in of an executive councillor or the revocation of any of these appointments. This is only the first of six recommendations from the Bell report, and it's worth recalling the conduct of the former Prime Minister that led to this point.

Ms Bell's report found that the member for Cook had been appointed to administer six of the 14 departments of state. None of these appointments were disclosed to the parliament or the public, and, in several cases, the minister who was responsible for the portfolio wasn't even told. Ms Bell described the member for Cook's explanations of these appointments as 'not easy to understand', which puts it charitably. She noted that the appointments were not necessary, as an acting minister could have been appointed in a matter of minutes.